The Supercar Blog

The Supercar Blog

Porsche’s Autonomous cars will have a Steering Wheel & Pedals

Will performance cars of the future be just faster autonomous cars with no basic controls like a steering wheel and pedals? If your head is burgeoning with questions like this, given reports about autonomous cars killing the fun of driving, Porsche has the answer.

Speaking to Motor Authority during the Rennsport Reunion last month, Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Porsche North American affirmed that customers will always have the option to take control over the car.

“Our plan is to always have the steering wheel and always have the pedals and potentially to even have the manual gearbox to really engage with the car and to do it all yourself,” he told the publication. “But, our customers always want it all. They want the possibility to use autonomous drive mode but they want to really engage with the car as well.”

Given the rising amounts of traffic in most of the world’s major cities, these sort of assistance systems will certainly take the stress off of the driver.

“All these assistance systems help you in certain traffic situations to give away some of the burden of driving, and there are certain traffic situations where it’s just not enjoyable,” Zellmer added. “Our take rates for (adaptive) cruise control are just as high as any other car brand, and that’s why in certain traffic situations, our customers will want that car to take them home without engaging personally.”

We certainly hope that other automakers will follow Porsche’s lead and have the option of taking the car’s control even when Level 5 autonomous technologies arrive.